For many sports fans in the 1960s through the 1990s, Pat Summerall was the voice of the NFL, starting with CBS' Sunday telecasts and later with Fox, famously paired for much of that time with John Madden.

"He was an extraordinary man and a wonderful father," Wiles told the Associated Press. "I know he will be greatly missed."

The Dallas Morning News reported Summerall died in his room at Dallas' Zale Lipshy Hospital, where he was recovering from surgery for a broken hip.

Summerall worked a record 16 Super Bowls, drawing on his football relationships made during his nine-plus years as a kicker in the NFL, primarily for the then-Chicago Cardinals and New York Giants from 1952 to 1961.

I always liked Summerall/Madden combo...one or both of them might take a lot of flak, but they could call a really good game in my opinion. I liked hearing them and I'm particular about my announcers...

On DVE yesterday morning, Randy Baumann referenced a comment apparently made by Artie Lange about Summerall's death that may have summed it up best (paraphrasing a bit) - Summerall's voice was what 4:30 on a Sunday afternoon in October, November and December was supposed to sound like. Lange added that Summerall's voice was synonymous with the get-togethers over food, beer and football that he and his family and friends would have.

Summerall and Madden may have very well been the pinnacle broadcast crew of my lifetime (born 1975). As much as I couldn't really stand those 49ers teams of the late 1980s & early 1990s, and then the Cowboys teams of the mid-1990s, those were always fun games to watch because we got to listen to Summerall and Madden. The early Madden games on the Sega Genesis/SNES and PS1 were solid games in large part because they used Summerall for play-by-play.

It's especially sad to hear about Summerall because Madden doesn't appear to be in great health these days, either. I remember seeing him in the commercials for whatever that Madden promo was that ran during the playoffs/Super Bowl and he looked...much older than I recall him looking before.